Summer Auto Tragedy At NJ Shore Spurs Push For Safer Teen Driving
DELBARTON, N.J. (CBS) - In the wake of this summer's accident on the Atlantic City Expressway that killed four high school football players (see related story), there's an effort afoot to get high school coaches to help promote the value of New Jersey's teen drivers licenses -- and to encourage teens to abide by their restrictions.
Perhaps lost in the tragedy at Mainland Regional High School in late August was the fact that there were eight kids crammed into an SUV -- which violates state law given the circumstances involved.
Pam Fischer heads up the New Jersey Teen Safe Driving Coalition and helped develop the state's law regarding teens behind the wheel.
"The driver was a probationary driver. Based on the Graduated Drivers License, there were too many occupants in the vehicle," she points out. The law limits drivers holding graduated licenses to having one passenger in the car.
Fischer has already met with Mainland High's administrators and coaches to push the importance of the law, and is now taking that campaign statewide. Today, she was meeting with a group of coaches and athletic directors in North Jersey.
It's a push that must be constant, she says, since the people affected by the law -- teens -- are constantly changing.
More details are at the web site of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.
Reported by David Madden, KYW Newsradio 1060
